ChuckL

Thanks so much. Will give him a call tomorrow!

I certainly know better than to have referenced Crown & Anchor, but I must have Royal Caribbean on my mind. We are sailing on the Icon of the Seas in 46 days, which will be a shock to our system after Celebrity, but it was a prior favorite, it is all in the family, and I had to see it for myself. We strayed from our planner to a travel agent once because Celebrity couldn’t match his group prices, and he was awful in comparison to our planner. We do use a different travel agency when we stray.from Celebrity and would use them for Celebrity if we don’t leave. Honestly am probably too fond of the Celebrity cruise experience and just not customer service recently.

I am attempting to find out whether anyone still has an active dedicated Celebrity Cruise Vacation Planner. The reason why I am asking is because of the following experience. I have been working with my dedicated Celebrity Vacation Planner since 2013. I have always received excellent service from her, so I have stayed with her Celebrity cruise bookings, and used a travel agent for other cruise lines. I booked an upcoming cruise with her this past August. I reached out to her with several questions by email on February 24, but didn’t receive any response. Her email sent out an auto-reply, and her voicemail remained active with a message that my call would be returned. After 3 weeks, I left a voicemail with the Vacation Planner department line a week ago, to see if my vacation planner was alright or if she left Celebrity, and to request a new Vacation Planner or temporary one if she was on an extended absence. That mailbox was actually set up for for new vacation planner requests. The recording on it said calls would be returned within 24 to 48 hours. That was seven days ago. Today, I contacted the Crown & Anchor number, and my call was answered by a general customer service agent and not C&A. I requested to speak with a supervisor in the Vacation Planner department, but I had to explain the reasons why. I spent over 20 minutes on hold with the agent telling me she was still waiting for the supervisor. She finally told me I was being transferred. When the transfer was completed, I asked if the person was a supervisor from the Vacation Planner area. I was told no, but that she was a supervisor from the Resolutions Department, and that she could handle the concerns my vacation planner hadn’t responded to. My “concerns” to my vacation planner were questions, so the purpose of my call was not conveyed correctly by the agent. I told her I wanted a supervisor from Vacation Planners because they had not returned my call requesting a new planner in 7 days either. The disturbing answer I received was that they did not provide new vacation planners anymore, because they were able to give more prompt service by just having a (random) customer service agent handling the calls. I asked if my vacation planner still worked for Celebrity and was told she did. I asked in what capacity, and was told as a Celebrity Vacation Planner. Resolutions said they would ask her to contact me. The person in Resolutions then attempted to answer my three questions, told me an upgrade to my wifi and inclusion of their new Premium Access program (which she was clueless about) had been cancelled and that I received a refund, when it had not been cancelled nor had I received a refund, and after many more minutes on hold, being told that. She also seemed to have no knowledge about the Celebrity Price Match guarantee program either, and I had to forward all of the emails between my Vacation Planner and me to her attention. Lucky me! Another auto reply email from Resolutions stating my email would be answered in 72 hours. I suspect that vacation planners are a dying breed at Celebrity. If you still work with one, would you mind giving me their name and 5 digit phone extension. I would really like to find out what happened to my planner because I don’t believe Resolutions telling me she was still at Celebrity, because the lack of a response from her is so untypical of her. We have loved Celebrity for the past 11 years now, and convinced friends to join us on our next cruise. However, this experience has really soured them on Celebrity. They cannot understand why I was told we couldn’t have a new dedicated planner, and that our price match that was going to be placed on our accounts as OBC 2 weeks prior to sailing might not exist. If this is true, we may unfortunately have to find a favorite cruise line.

We had our embarkation day lunch at Le Bistro on the Apex in April 2022. Granted there was a charge, but we found it to be worth it’s weight in gold, to be able to board the ship and enjoy a delicious French lunch in a peaceful, non-hectic and uncrowded environment. This allowed us to be relaxed during the first couple of hours onboard, which is usually stressful until the cabins are ready. We plan on doing it again when we board the Ascent in February 2025.

How far and how much time did it take you to get to the port from Margaritaville?

I have purchased slip on sneakers from Skeechers. They appear like they are laced, but that is just part of the design. They are VERY lightweight with elastic sides to hold them on,, and have very thin soles as well.They are really comfortable and don’t push on the numb feet. I believe they came from this collection of shoes: https://www.skechers.com/men/shoes/hands-free-slip-ins/

Not humorous at all. Leaving a scooter or other device is more than dirty looks! It is a prohibited safety violation against cruise line rules and hazard that could block other passengers from getting down those "narrow hallways" in an emergency. It also blocks other wheelchairs, scooters and power chairs from using that corridor at any time.

Just make sure that you get the dimensions, particularly the width, of whichever device you rent. Depending on the company you use and what you are renting, you may need to stay in sn Accessible Cabin to be able to fget it through the doorway, because you are not allowed to leave it in the hall as it's a safety hazard to the other passengers. lThe cruise line Specisl Needs department should be ablr to get you the door dimensions for your ship.

I also have peripheral neuropathy, along with spinal and cervical stenosis, and severe arthritis in the knee, which can cause it to give out. I am in physical therapy twice a week, and also have regular appointments with my physical medicine doctor and two other specialists at my physical rehab center. I regularly use a cane for both the balance issue and security for not falling if my knee gives out, or my back has excruciating pain. On my past few cruises, I have rented a power chair for even more added security when traversing longer distances on the ship and also having to potentially deal with rough seas.Having the added security from the chair has really made a huge difference in my being able to fully enjoy my cruise without the fear of falling and injuring myself.The cost has generally been around $400 for a seven day North American cruise. Scooters are a bit less expensive, but I prefer the power chair because it has a much tighter turning radius and makes maneuvering in and out of elevators much easier for me. Also, if you are in a port that doesn’t require tendering, and is accessibility friendly, you can also take your mobility assistance transport device off of the ship.

The $100 OBC for retired educators was applied to my existing cruise booking that was in the list of eligible cruises for the promotion.

I am a retired University staff member, and I was verified yesterday by sending a couple of dated screen shots that showed my name as well as other information about me (e.g. my University directory entry showing me as retired, as well as a Benefits page showing my retiree plans. In addition, we were able to keep our University email accounts after retiring, so the correspondence I had regarding getting verified was done using my xxx@university.edu account.

I received my verification for a retired faculty/staff member at a University today. I originally booked my July, 2003 cruise with HAL, but had it transferred to a travel agent. I will contact them tomorrow to see if they can get it applied, since the verification seemed to indicate there was a one day waiting period before it could be used. My cruise is on the eligibility list, so I will let you know what happens for me.

I thought that the non-alcoholic beverages were unlimited with the Elite Beverage package and not included in the 15 drink limit per day. This would be an added perk for those that consumed several specialty coffees, soft drinks, waters, etc.a day. Could somebody answer whether this is true?

Is the current protocol set by HAL 48 hours prior to embarkation, or 2 days prior to embarkation day. In other words, if I’m flying into Vancouver on a Thursday morning, is an airport test taken then good for a Saturday late afternoon sailing?